Top 5 Mistakes that Lead to Data Loss

Preventing data loss is crucial to know for every business. Many IT developments are massively overloaded. It is the main reason of numerous disruptions which lead to data loss. Many companies are overburdened. Thus they’ve experienced data loss because of errors that could be avoided.

Keep on reading to get more details about the top five common mistakes made by companies that lead to data loss:

Causes Of Data Loss:

1.    Lack of Time

This reason is one of the most popular reasons for data loss. Not every employee has a tie to regularly document procedures and processes.  And this is a huge mistake which can lead to severe problems in the nearest future. That is why it is crucial to know what data as well as where and when this data is stored. You may probably don’t completely realize the entire importance of this point until you will need to provide this information to data recovery specialists, who will try to recover your lost data. In case you do not know what happened, then the data recovery process may be quite long as well as complex and expensive.

Solution: Follow up with employees after given the time to backup and “see” the data backed up.

2.    Working On an Affected Server after Deleted Data

It is wise to stop the work on the affected server as soon as you notice that data is missing on a computer. You should shut down that server as well as ask IT employees to freeze the current database. Lots of companies ignore this process and do not do it. The reason is that shutting a server down can lead to negative consequences. This action can mean business has to stop. In case sensitive server continues to be used, then the valuable areas on the server that are necessary to be recovered are overwritten. As a result, you will get nothing but irreversible data loss. That is why those companies who appreciate and take care of their business should pay particular attention to installing sufficient human resources, backups, and replacement servers.

Solution: Never use affected server where data loss has been occurred

3.    Outdated Data Recovery Processes

It is quite a frequent problem when a company has outdated backups. It frequently happens when the wrong data is in the reserve, and the right data has gone missing. Not all the IT departments update or create a new backup. And mostly all those companies have no plan in case data loss occurs. Because no company has an effective emergency plan, the chance of inevitable data loss is high.

Solution: You need to prepare an emergency data loss plan in case an accident occurs. All the backup processes should be updated.

4.    Third-Party Apps

Dropbox, as well as Google Drive, allow to authorize and run third-party applications on behalf of various apps and websites. These applications can be very harmful as they can move, modify or even delete data. That is why before you grant access you need to be sure that you can trust the site or app. Google Drive, as well as Dropbox, cannot guarantee 100% security and safety. Thus, they are not able to protect other data on the other company’s servers. As a result, the loss of your data may be the reason for the more significant data privacy and security risks.

In case you store valuable as well as confidential information (tax reports, financial records, etc.) on your server and share this information with other people, their contact info will also be saved in your Google Drive.

If you allow access to your files stored on Google Drive, you should know that there will always be a chance of data loss, its change or deletion.

Solution: Share access only to those people you can trust. Moreover, always make a reserve copy of your data and store it on the other place that your local PC or cloud storage.

5.    Virus and Malware

Virus attacks – is one of the first things that come to mind when you mention to anyone that you’ve lost your data. Viruses are very harmful as well as destructive to your software. The leading causes of virus attacks are emails and phishing attacks. Thus, even the most innocent employee may click on the link with the virus. Once you click on the link, the virus penetrates your smart device, no matter whether it is your smartphone or a desktop, and destroys its necessary information, files, and more. The one way to avoid this problem is to download and install antivirus software on your computer. You need to always monitor whether your software is active. Scan your smartphone or a computer regularly to detect viruses and get rid of them before they perform any damage to your smart device.

Back your data up as many times as possible. It will help you to recover data in case of an accident happens.

Solution: In case you want to be ready for virus attacks, you need to install antivirus software. Moreover, to recover your data, try to always back it up as many times as possible.

Data loss prevention is essential for businesses, SMEs (Small and Medium-scale Enterprises), companies, etc. Companies need to keep their employees as well as processes updated with efficient data loss prevention plan, tools, software, etc. to avoid data loss risk.

All the mistakes mentioned above are easy to avoid if you are well-prepared for it and have an efficient plan in case an accident occurs.

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Water Damage Data Recovery: All Data Recovered After Laptop Spends Days in a Flood

When Mark Belhumeur went to bed on Feb. 26, he knew a flood was coming.

The rain had been falling for days in Northern California. The ground was saturated, the Russian River was rising and some flooding was imminent.

But, Belhumeur didn’t know it would be the worst flood on the river in a quarter century and that the rising water would put AutoCamp – Glamping – at risk of being swept away.

Luckily, the hotel was moveable. It consisted of two dozen luxury Airstream trailers situated on the edge of the river about 90 miles from San Francisco. The camp sits above a scenic Sonoma County waterway that runs through wine country en route to the Pacific Ocean, a dozen miles away.

“On the night before, the weather forecast came out and said it (the river) was going to rise to 39 feet,” Belhumeur said. “We knew what that meant. The last time Guerneville (the nearest town) was flooded was 2017 and it came to 37 feet and we were not underwater. So, we didn’t think we were in danger.”

By morning, the forecast was for the river to get much worse and crest at 46 feet. Immediate action had to be taken or the hotel was a goner.

Those fancy – and expensive – trailers had to be protected.

“It’s not as simple as just hooking up a truck and hauling them,” he explained. “We organized a team of employees to move the decks, furniture and plants away from the trailers so they could haul the trailers to safer ground.”

The water in the camp was still rising as the night ran out.

“We did our best,” Belhumeur said. “We worked until 11 o’clock at night when we were standing in two feet of water and realized we couldn’t pull any others out. We got 19 of 24 trailers out.”

So far, so good. But then, they realized that one of the flooded trailers had a bigger problem.

“What we didn’t get out, foolishly, was the administrative trailer. We had three offices in the trailer, one being mine,” Belhumeur explained. “We were so focused on getting those $100,000 guest trailers out, it didn’t dawn on anybody to get the office trailer.”

The office, which also housed the communications system, got hit hard. Everything was soaked.

“The computers, the phone systems, all of the Internet stuff got flooded,” he said. “You name it, every piece of equipment, every piece of furniture was under eight feet of water.”

Belhumeur didn’t know where to turn, but a colleague reached out to a friend who knew someone they thought could help. It was DriveSavers.

DriveSavers, where data recovery was pioneered in 1985, has a history of helping disaster victims recover personal and business information. The specialized services from DriveSavers are designed to deal with any failed device, including water-damaged computers, cell phones, tablets and external hard drives.

“It was absolutely a seamless effort. Not that I had even any time to worry about it, because there were so many things that had to be done,” Belhumeur explained. “I was working off my iPhone; that was the only computer I had.”

A few days passed.

“Then I get a call from customer service at DriveSavers. They said that they had the office computer and that it was a filthy mess. However, they were able to retrieve a lot of data off the hard drive, a lot of files,” Belhumeur said. “And, it was very pleasant. Very much like a dream. Honest to God. The whole experience with DriveSavers was like a dream. Effortless. Like I didn’t have to do a darn thing.

“I plugged it in, followed all of the instructions to back up the backup, which I did, and it was just seamless. It was wonderful,” he continued. “We got back all of the business files. Copies of transactions, letters, receipts, you name it and I got it back. I haven’t touched a file yet that I haven’t been able to open!”

Photo Credit: Johnie Gall

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Android and iPhone Data Recovery: What’s Happening to 23% of Smartphones?

Nearly a quarter of the smartphones we receive at DriveSavers for Android and iPhone data recovery have been opened before they were sent to us. And this number is growing.

Why is this a big deal?

A minor repair like a screen or battery replacement is unlikely to impact our ability to recover the data. However, removing internal parts, working on the boards or introducing heat can dramatically reduce our chance for a successful outcome.

Keep reading for a look inside previously-opened iPhones and Androids to understand exactly why many cannot have their data retrieved. First, we’ll look at other common data loss scenarios.

Android and iPhone Data Loss

Here are some common types of iPhone and Android phone damage that could lead to data loss.

• Liquid Damage (potentially recoverable): Liquids and moisture can cause corrosion and other damage to the internal components of your iPhone or Android.
• Rising temperatures while in operation (potentially recoverable): Overheating is a very serious problem that could lead to extensive damage when not looked into. Overheating can cause the solder joints to melt and cause loss of circuit connectivity or shorts at the solder joints.
• Accidental Restore (unrecoverable): Accidentally or intentionally hitting the reset factory settings option can happen, which will lead to total data loss on your iPhone.
• iOS issues (potentially recoverable): Software corruption could cause apps to continuously shut down while in use. Having no backups could lead to data loss.
• Physical Damage (potentially recoverable): Human error is a major cause of damaged iPhones and Android smartphones. Dropping it, running over it with a car or other crushing scenarios could cause damage to both the exterior and interior of the phone, leaving you unable to access your iPhone or Android’s data.

Symptoms of iPhone Damage

The symptoms mentioned below are possible indicators of damage. If you notice any of these symptoms, power off your device and get professional help. Some of these symptoms are:

• Issues powering up: If your iPhone or Android is constantly restarting, this is a sign of damage. You may also come across the “white screen of death” which is a white screen that pops up when your iPhone is restarting.
• Hardware Failure: Are you having trouble charging your iPhone? Has the auxiliary port on your Android stopped working? Failure for certain components to work is a clear indicator of damage.
• Constant Error Messages: Error messages occur when there are…well…errors. It’s important to take note of these messages and contact a professional who knows what they mean.
• App Issues: Apps that constantly restart or freeze may be an indicator of either logical or physical damage.
• Check Indicators: iPhones and Androids both have liquid indicators which will reveal if your smartphone has water damage. You will need a flashlight for this. Shine a light into your smartphone’s headphone jack and your charging jack. If there is a red dot present on the inside of both of these areas, your iPhone has been exposed to moisture.

Damage Found in Previously-Opened Smartphones

If you have not been trained to perform Android or iPhone repair, absolutely do not try any DIY methods or otherwise attempt to correct the problem yourself. Unless you are Apple Certified, opening up your iPhone renders any warranties you may have null and void.

Opening up a smartphone can also damage screens, protective seals and internal parts.
Manipulating internal components without the proper training and tools could cause more damage and render the smartphone unrepairable. Worse, you could cause enough damage that Android or iPhone data recovery is no longer possible. As a result, photos, videos, contacts and other irreplaceable data could be lost forever.

Here are some of the more common issues our Android and iPhone data recovery engineers see that were caused by attempted repair work.

Heated Up

Applying too much heat, applying heat incorrectly, or applying heat too many times to an iPhone or Android smartphone can cause all types of damage that will render it unrecoverable. While it doesn’t make every situation unrecoverable, excessive heat causes increased difficulty in data recovery.

Learn more about heat damage in the video below.

How heat causes damage

• Different materials expand and contract with different levels of heat
• Separates components of integrated circuits (ICs) because they expand/contract at different levels of heat
• Layers cannot be put back together once they separate
• Chips can be destroyed even without any visible separation or destruction of the chip
• Too much heat can cause a short internally
• Some components are beneath epoxy and heating the epoxy causes separation and destruction of those components
• Epoxy may act as an insulated layer and contain heat after it is no longer being applied

See all the little balls of solder in Image 1 below? These should not be there. This is an example of a smartphone that had too much generalized heat applied.

Image 1: The extra solder balls found inside this iPhone indicate that too much heat was used during an attempted repair.

Screwed

Tremendous damage can be done to an iPhone or Android smartphone when using incorrect screws or replacing the screws in the wrong locations. Placing the wrong screws can cause irreversible damage to the PCB. A screw that is the wrong size or length can cut through the PCB and damage the conductor runs beneath it.

This may happen when replacing display cables or performing screen repair. This can also happen when a wet smartphone is opened to dry it out and then put back together with the screws replaced incorrectly. If you need Android or iPhone data recovery due to water damage, we recommend that you do not take it apart before sending it to us—just send it to us ASAP. If someone has already opened the smartphone to dry it, don’t attempt to put it back together as screw damage may occur. It’s better to send the phone in pieces than risk further damage in the assembly.

Images 2–5 below show the effects of using the wrong screws when putting an iPhone back together after repair.

Image 2 below shows a standoff through which the wrong length screw was inserted. Image 3 shows the same iPhone with the standoff removed and the damage that was done to it by the screw that was used. This is known as long-screw damage. Image 4 shows what this area of the iPhone should look like when the standoff is removed.

Image 2: Somebody attempted to repair this smartphone using the wrong length screw. How do we know? We shouldn’t be able to see the copper ring that is visible in the center of this standoff.

Image 3 below shows what the iPhone from Image 2 looks like with the standoff removed. Notice the difference from Image 4, which is how the iPhone is supposed to look. The iPhone shown in Images 2 and 3 has experienced a lot of damage that was caused by someone who may not have been properly trained in iPhone repair. As a result, this person replaced the wrong screw in the wrong place and caused further damage instead of fixing the iPhone.

Image 3: With the standoff removed, we begin to see the damage that was caused to this iPhone when the wrong length screw was used in repair.

Image 4 below shows what the iPhone should look like underneath the standoff. This is an image of an iPhone that has not experienced long-screw damage.

Image 4: This is what an undamaged iPhone should look like underneath the standoff.

Image 5 below shows how deep this long-screw damage goes. Because the screw that was used was too long, it tore conductor runs, which are necessary not only for a working phone but also for successful data recovery.

Image 5: The conductor runs circled above should be connected but have been torn by a screw that was too long.

Conductor runs are a signal path between components. This type of damage can be likened to traveling in a car along a road and finding that a bridge is out. Without the bridge, you can’t complete your journey. If the conductor runs are torn, then the path is broken and the signals can’t complete their journey.

If a screw is even a millimeter too long, this type of damage can occur.

Even though DriveSavers iPhone data recovery engineers can repair this damage, it takes skillful microsoldering, during which heat must be applied. Applying heat to the board is always risky as iPhone and Android components that are necessary in data recovery are very temperature-sensitive. The more heat that is added, the less chance there is of a successful data recovery.

Learn more about long-screw damage in the video below.

Repairing Physical Damage with Software

Attempting Android or iPhone repair using software when there is physical damage can cause the memory to become corrupted. Before using software solutions, any physical damage must first be repaired.

Examples of physical iPhone or Android damage include:

• Bad battery
• Damaged circuit
• Crushed or broken Home button

Factory Restore

A corrupt iPhone NAND can potentially be repaired by a factory restore via iTunes. However, a factory restore deletes all the content and settings, making data recovery no longer possible. Only restore a phone once the data has been backed up and verified.

What if the corruption prevents a backup? Before performing this type of repair, it’s essential to first find out if the data on the phone is important to the user. If it is, do not engage a factory restore. Instead, send the iPhone to an Apple-approved data recovery company such as DriveSavers.

Small Slip = Big Mess

A very small slip when components and solder are heated can cause tiny components to move in drastic ways. This is what happened in Image 6 below when someone removed the audio codec. This procedure requires tiny movements. A small mistake can lead to a bigger problem. On an iPhone, many of these components affect data recovery and must be put back in their correct placement for a successful outcome. This requires adding heat in order to move the components. Adding heat always reduces the chance for successful data recovery.

Also, attempting to remove the IC (Integrated Circuit) could lead to damage to the IC itself, or to the PCB. The IC houses minute circuitry that are too small to solder, and these delicate components can easily get damaged during repairs or data recovery attempts by someone without the proper tools or skill.

Image 6: These tiny components were moved and jumbled when a tool slipped during iPhone repair. The data on this iPhone is recoverable; however, it will take a lot of work. It will also require added heat, which is dangerous to data recovery.

Learn more about shifted components and see how tiny they are in the video below.

Damaged EEPROM

An electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) is a pre-programmed read-only memory chip. It is extremely easy to damage an EEPROM during iPhone repair because it is such a fragile component.

Image 7: This EEPROM was damaged during iPhone repair. The data on this iPhone is not recoverable.

Replacing an EEPROM with an aftermarket chip will not restore functionality. No replacement EEPROM can be used if it is damaged. Only the original part can be used. Once damaged, data recovery is impossible.

Learn more in the video below.

iPhone X—Sloppy Solder

The iPhone X is a jump in the evolution of iPhone technology. This generation of iPhone, and newer, now contain two separate PCBs that are soldered together. This takes up less space inside the phone than the previous design.

There are solder balls holding the two layers together, sometimes three rows deep. Each row of solder must perfectly match in size and placement of the connections on the PCB.

Learn more in the video below:

Attempting repair or data recovery that involves taking apart the PCB in an iPhone X or newer requires very specific tools and skills. If the PCB is soldered back together without being perfectly exact, it will not work. This is a situation where we are able to recover the data. However, it is highly skilled, time consuming and difficult work.

Image 8: The iPhone X PCB on the top is soldered well. The one on the bottom is not. The iPhone X on the bottom will not work.

On any type of iPhone or Android phone, solder joints provide the contact between the various elements within the circuit board, as well as being used in multichip modules. Bad solder joints lead to loss of functionality. This means that the component will not work well, if at all.

Each connection allows the board to communicate with itself. Gaps between solder joints break the little connections that make an iPhone or Android work. Extra solder leaves a messy circuit board and could cause a short. When you are dealing with minute circuitry, you cannot afford to leave behind a mess on the board.

Leave Android and iPhone Data Recovery to the Experts

Our smartphones hold more than just games; they are storage for memories we make every day.

Photos and videos from once-in-a-lifetime events, important documents, messages from loved ones that you want to keep for a long time… Think about what data is on your phone. Is it replaceable?

The chances of success in Android or iPhone data recovery is always better on the first try. Additional attempts may cause further damage to the already existing issues and may exacerbate the problem, rendering data recovery impossible. Sending your phone to the wrong place can cause you to lose your data for good.

Before sending your iPhone or Android for repair or data recovery, be sure you fully vet the company you’ve chosen. You should even vet DriveSavers! Look at reviews, experience, Better Business Bureau standing and other factors. The absolute best thing you can do is ask the manufacturer of your smartphone who they recommend.

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Nature: 11 ways to avert a data-storage disaster

Illustration above by The Project Twins

Originally published by Nature International Journal of Science.
By Jeffrey M. Perkel

Hard-drive failures are inevitable, but data loss doesn’t have to be.

Tracy Teal was a graduate student when she executed what should have been a routine command in her Unix terminal: rm −rf *. That command instructs the computer to delete everything in the current directory recursively, including all subdirectories. There was just one problem — she was in the wrong directory.

At the time, Teal was studying computational linguistics as part of a master’s degree in biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She had spent months developing and running simulation software, and was at last ready to begin her analysis. The first step was to “clean up the data and get organized”, she says. Instead, she deleted her entire project. And unlike the safety net offered by the Windows and Macintosh operating-system trash cans, there’s no way of recovering from executing rm. Unless you have a backup.

In the digital world, backing up data is essential, whether those data are smartphone selfies or massive genome-sequencing data sets. Storage media are fragile, and they inevitably fail — or are lost, stolen or damaged.

Backup options range from USB memory sticks and cloud-based data-storage services to huge institutional magnetic-tape servers, with researchers typically exploiting more than one. But not all such strategies have the same advantages, and scientists must discover what works best for them on the basis of the nature and volume of their data, storage-resource availability and concerns about data privacy.

In Teal’s case, automation saved the day. The server on which she was working was regularly backed up to tape, and the “very friendly and helpful IT folks” on her department’s life-sciences computing helpdesk were able to recover her files. But the situation was particularly embarrassing, she says, because Teal — who is now executive director at The Carpentries, a non-profit organization in San Francisco, California, that runs workshops on scientific computing — had previously worked for the information technology (IT) team. It was “like the lifeguard having to be rescued”, she says.

Here are 11 tips that could make potential data-loss disasters a little less painful.

1. Apply the 3-2-1 rule

The rule of thumb to follow when making data backups, says Michael Cobb, director of engineering at DriveSavers, a data-recovery firm in Novato, California, is ‘3-2-1’: “It’s three copies, [on] two different media, one off-site.” You might, for instance, maintain copies on your personal computer, an external hard disk and the cloud-based file-synchronization service Dropbox (US$12.50 per user each month, for 3 or more users and 3 terabytes of storage). “This is a rubric to take inspiration from, not a law,” notes Elizabeth Wickes, an information scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign — precious data might require extra precautions.

2. Talk to the specialists

Your institution employs people to think about data full-time, so talk to them, advises Juliane Schneider, who leads data curation at Harvard Catalyst in Boston, Massachusetts. Your research-computing centre might offer free or low-cost institutional backup systems; your librarian can help you to craft a data-management strategy; and your grants office can advise you on funding-agency requirements, including how, and for how long, data must be maintained. “They want to help you keep your data — especially if you have a grant,” she says.

3. Manage your data

Reliable backups require clever data management. Referencing the organizing method devised by Marie Kondo, a popular Japanese lifestyle consultant and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying (2014), Ciera Martinez, a data scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, advises asking of each file: ‘Does this need to be stored?’ Adds Teal, with a laugh, “You can’t just keep the data that bring you joy!”

Establish conventions on file naming and organization — for instance, that each project gets its own folder; that data and code go into dedicated subdirectories; and that each project folder includes a file that documents the project’s aims, methods, metadata and files. Plan where and how data are backed up, and develop a schedule — daily or weekly, for instance — for doing so.

Raw data should always be saved, but intermediate processing files can often be discarded. Massive data sets require special thought: some cloud-based providers cap the sizes of stored files, and data-transfer and storage costs can become prohibitive.

4. Safeguard privacy

Data gathered from patients or students are often restricted, which means that they cannot be stored just anywhere. At her institution, Wickes says, researchers have several cloud-based options for data backup, but only one is approved for use with sensitive data. Your department’s IT team can offer advice. “Being out of compliance for data protection can be very serious. You could face financial penalties, or lose the ability to conduct research,” Wickes says.

5. Automate backing up

When making backups, automation is key. Kelly Smith, a cardiac geneticist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, has access to a shared network drive that is copied to tape. She used to move her files to the drive manually, but only monthly; in the event that the drive failed, newer files could be lost. An automated cloud-based backup system called Druva inSync, from data-protection firm Druva in Sunnyvale, California, now obviates that concern. “It’s one less thing I have to worry about,” she says.

“You have to not think about it,” explains Teal. “Because when you’re most stressed is when things go down, and when you’ve forgotten backups for the past three months.”

6. Protect raw data

All data are precious, but raw data are irreplaceable: the only way to recreate them is to run the experiment again. These must therefore be backed up — and kept as read-only files. Wickes once had to kill a project because she opened a crucial file in Microsoft Excel, which automatically formatted a column, changing the values and ruining the underlying data set. So, protect your raw data, says Martinez, “no matter what”.

7. Make backing up achievable

A data-management plan must be easy to follow for new members of the lab, as well as for postdocs who are pulling an all-nighter. “You might say, ‘Oh, this is a perfect system.’ Okay, now, are you going to do it at 3 a.m., after you’ve been working for 24 hours on something? Are you going to do it when you’re in the middle of fighting with a code problem?” Wickes says. Discuss the strategy as a team, and make sure that it’s workable. Then, just as you would for your −80 °C freezer, simulate what would happen if disaster strikes: what data would you lose, and how quickly could you recover? “At a minimum, that as a thought experiment would be valuable,” says Teal.

8. Test backups regularly

Don’t assume that your backups are working: test them. Can you open your files? Do you have the necessary applications, login credentials and registration keys to run them? Wickes’ departmental IT service offers staff a free account on CrashPlan from Code42 Software in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which automates backups to the cloud. One day, Wickes decided to test her backup, only to find that it had stopped syncing six months earlier. “I was fine because I had a local Time Machine backup, as well,” she says, referring to Apple’s backup system for computers running its Macintosh operating system. Reiterating the advice he gave in tip 1, Cobb says: “So, 3-2-1 backup, and then restore [some key files]. And test it on a different computer, in a different room, on a different device — because if the worst-case scenario happens, you won’t have your device.”

9. Expect the unexpected

Life happens. Cobb — who lost all of his personal possessions in a wildfire in 2017 — had a client who stored a rack of 96 hard disks underneath a fire-control sprinkler. One day, the sprinkler popped, and the disks were inundated with water. “None of that data was backed up,” he says. Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at the Rockefeller University in New York City, almost lost her mosquito-genome sequencing data in 2012 when her basement servers were flooded in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Such events are unavoidable but can often be anticipated — so search hard for vulnerabilities. About a year-and-a-half ago, Cobb’s office was shaken by a small earthquake — hardly a surprise in California. A picture of former US president, and one-time client, Gerald Ford fell off the wall and hit his laptop “just right”, shattering the screen. “After that, I was like, ‘I better move things around so I am better prepared’.”

10. Keep a backup offline

Internet-connected backup devices are convenient: the data are instantly available. But those devices are also instantly vulnerable to user error and malicious software (malware). Craig Rager, chief technology officer at Data Mechanix, a data-recovery firm in Irvine, California, says that many of his clients have suffered ransomware attacks, in which a virus encrypts a computer’s hard disk, making it unusable. A backup drive, whether attached to the computer directly or through a network, can also be hit in such an attack, he notes. “Because you can never eliminate this threat 100%, the only thing you can really do is have a device that you back up, which is then taken offline or not accessible to your network,” for instance, by being powered off.

11. Plan ahead

Ultimately, your data need to be available in the future. So, think about “future you”, says Teal. Consider the media on which your data are saved, and the applications that you use to open them. Try to stay up to date. Much of Vosshall’s early data are stored in an obsolete disk format, she says, meaning they’re backed up but inaccessible. “I’d have to go to an antique store to find a reader.” Even the cloud provides no guarantees: data-storage companies can shift their business priorities, or you might simply lose access to your account. So, make sure to keep a local backup — or, at least, back up your data on independent services. “People will ask, ‘You mean, you don’t trust Google Docs?’” says Wickes. “It’s not necessarily about trusting Google Docs, it’s about trusting that you don’t lose access.”

Nature 568, 131-132 (2019)

doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-01040-w

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01040-w

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Bulletproof Your Backups

By Mike Cobb, Director of Engineering

Backing up your hard drive is one of those tasks that rates somewhere between flossing your teeth and checking the air in your tires, it’s a necessity that can cause great regret if not done regularly.

Backing up is the first rule of thumb for protecting all your important data and clearly it has real benefits, yet it’s surprising how many people don’t do it or…don’t do it right. A suitable backup means that a duplicate copy of your data resides on a different storage medium than your main hard drive. Copying your data to another folder on the same drive doesn’t count because when (not if) your drive crashes, you may not be able to access any of the data.

Archiving Old Data

A good backup plan starts with deciding what files you want to backup. This can take awhile if you have a large hard drive and thousands of files collected over years. To speed up the backup process and reclaim valuable space on your hard drive, it’s a good idea to do a little digital housekeeping and archive old data that is rarely needed to semi-permanent storage media such as an external hard disk drive (HDD) or, for more enterprise applications, high grade optical media or magnetic tape.

An archive is a little different from a backup. Archived data is seldom accessed and may be stored for very long periods of time without use. A regular backup, on the other hand, is for files and other data that is regularly accessed, modified and otherwise used.
Once you’ve archived data to your external device(s) for long-term storage, it’s recommended that you verify and check the data on them to ensure everything was properly transferred and that none of the files are corrupt.

If the data is important enough to save to one archive device, it’s a good idea to save it to a second one as well just in case the first becomes victim to degradation, failure or other issue. In other words, keep two or more copies of your archived data. Be sure to test and verify whatever backup media and process you are using by performing a restore of the data on a regular schedule—at least annually.

Be sure to store your archive backup devices in a cool, dry location that is separated from any electromagnetic interference such as may come from other computers, wireless routers and other electromagnetic devices. You should store these separate archive devices in different locations in case of unforeseen events like fire or theft. You might keep one at your office, another in a safe deposit box and perhaps an additional copy at the home of a family member.

Protecting the Data You Use

Next, you should think about a reliable backup device or cloud service that will function properly on a daily basis.

An external hard drive or RAID system that resides on your network or is connected to your computer full time may be the most secure. Choose a device that will back up the entire capacity of your hard drive (plus a bit more extra space for future data). Ultimately, you’ll want to include all the files you’ve created, your programs and the system software, too.

There are also plenty of cloud storage options available. When choosing a backup service provider, here are some issues to consider:

1. Do you have special security needs involving regulated data? If you have medical, financial, educational or other sensitive files, what security and encryption protocols are available for your protection?
2. Where, exactly, is the data being stored? Potentially, the location of the backup can be anywhere in the world, including sites outside the country where you live. How safe is your data if it is located beyond your country’s borders?
3. How long will it take to retrieve your data, if needed, from the backup provider? Remember: large sets of data may take many hours or even days to download via the Internet. Is the service accessible 24/7?
4. Is the backup service a viable business that will be around for as long as you need them? During the last economic downturn, several data storage firms went belly up and left customers in the lurch without access to their files.

Just like with your archived files, if the data is important enough to save to one location, it’s a good idea to save it to a second one as well. This is true for both physical devices and cloud services. After all, there is no actual “cloud.” Your data is still on a device—it’s just located in a storage center along with lots and lots of other data that belongs to other people and businesses. All devices eventually fail—even those used by cloud backup services. Cloud services are also vulnerable to being hacked or held for ransom. It’s a good idea for you to have a second backup plan just in case something happens to theirs.

The Secret to Bulletproof Backup

The real secret to bulletproof backup is to do it regularly.

The best advice here is to use software that automatically backs up your drive at a scheduled time every day or every week, depending on your needs. Apple’s Time Machine® and third-party software products like Acronis True Image for Windows handle automated backups seamlessly and there many others available for purchase on the web. If you are considering a cloud service, find out which ones include automated backup schedules.

Beyond a single backup device you should also have a backup—for your backup. Think worst case scenario: a sprinkler pipe bursts flooding your studio computer and backup; a fire breaks out and everything becomes a wet, charbroiled mess after the fire department douses it with water; a disgruntled employee erases your main hard drive and destroys the backup. To protect yourself against these situations, you’ll need a secondary backup—one that is stored outside your facility.

A clear option for this is a cloud service. However, if you are concerned about security (after all, cloud services are connected to the internet at all times) or have industry compliance regulations that prevent cloud backup, rotating your secondary backup devices may be a good option.

If rotating your secondary backup device is the best choice, have multiple devices that you switch out from your network on a regular schedule (weekly is best). Keep only the device currently in use for backup at the facility and keep the others in a safe or at a separate location, such as another office. Once a week (or whatever schedule you have determined), rotate these devices so that a different one is being used for the daily secondary backup. In order to balance wear and tear, number the devices and rotate them in order.

Sometimes, Bad Things Just Happen

Sometimes, no matter how careful you are or how many precautions you put in place, bad things still happen. File corruption, data breach, flood, fire, multiple drive failure… We have many corporate clients who have experienced system failure at the worst possible moment between automated backups, causing essential data to be lost. Hopefully, this article will help you to avoid any data loss in both your business and personal life.

However, DriveSavers will be here if the worst should happen.

Additional Reading

Best Backup Solutions
Do Cloud Backup Services Hold Water?
Recovery Tips
Small Business Bonfire: Why Data Backup is Needed Now More Than Ever
TDIC: Data Backup: What’s Your Risk Tolerance?
Untwist, Inc.: Using Bare Internal Hard Drives for Data Archiving

The post Bulletproof Your Backups appeared first on DriveSavers.

from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2uDnPDD

Bulletproof Your Backups

By Mike Cobb, Director of Engineering

Backing up your hard drive is one of those tasks that rates somewhere between flossing your teeth and checking the air in your tires, it’s a necessity that can cause great regret if not done regularly.

Backing up is the first rule of thumb for protecting all your important data and clearly it has real benefits, yet it’s surprising how many people don’t do it or…don’t do it right. A suitable backup means that a duplicate copy of your data resides on a different storage medium than your main hard drive. Copying your data to another folder on the same drive doesn’t count because when (not if) your drive crashes, you may not be able to access any of the data.

Archiving Old Data

A good backup plan starts with deciding what files you want to backup. This can take awhile if you have a large hard drive and thousands of files collected over years. To speed up the backup process and reclaim valuable space on your hard drive, it’s a good idea to do a little digital housekeeping and archive old data that is rarely needed to semi-permanent storage media such as an external hard disk drive (HDD) or, for more enterprise applications, high grade optical media or magnetic tape.

An archive is a little different from a backup. Archived data is seldom accessed and may be stored for very long periods of time without use. A regular backup, on the other hand, is for files and other data that is regularly accessed, modified and otherwise used.
Once you’ve archived data to your external device(s) for long-term storage, it’s recommended that you verify and check the data on them to ensure everything was properly transferred and that none of the files are corrupt.

If the data is important enough to save to one archive device, it’s a good idea to save it to a second one as well just in case the first becomes victim to degradation, failure or other issue. In other words, keep two or more copies of your archived data. Be sure to test and verify whatever backup media and process you are using by performing a restore of the data on a regular schedule—at least annually.

Be sure to store your archive backup devices in a cool, dry location that is separated from any electromagnetic interference such as may come from other computers, wireless routers and other electromagnetic devices. You should store these separate archive devices in different locations in case of unforeseen events like fire or theft. You might keep one at your office, another in a safe deposit box and perhaps an additional copy at the home of a family member.

Protecting the Data You Use

Next, you should think about a reliable backup device or cloud service that will function properly on a daily basis.

An external hard drive or RAID system that resides on your network or is connected to your computer full time may be the most secure. Choose a device that will back up the entire capacity of your hard drive (plus a bit more extra space for future data). Ultimately, you’ll want to include all the files you’ve created, your programs and the system software, too.

There are also plenty of cloud storage options available. When choosing a backup service provider, here are some issues to consider:

1. Do you have special security needs involving regulated data? If you have medical, financial, educational or other sensitive files, what security and encryption protocols are available for your protection?
2. Where, exactly, is the data being stored? Potentially, the location of the backup can be anywhere in the world, including sites outside the country where you live. How safe is your data if it is located beyond your country’s borders?
3. How long will it take to retrieve your data, if needed, from the backup provider? Remember: large sets of data may take many hours or even days to download via the Internet. Is the service accessible 24/7?
4. Is the backup service a viable business that will be around for as long as you need them? During the last economic downturn, several data storage firms went belly up and left customers in the lurch without access to their files.

Just like with your archived files, if the data is important enough to save to one location, it’s a good idea to save it to a second one as well. This is true for both physical devices and cloud services. After all, there is no actual “cloud.” Your data is still on a device—it’s just located in a storage center along with lots and lots of other data that belongs to other people and businesses. All devices eventually fail—even those used by cloud backup services. Cloud services are also vulnerable to being hacked or held for ransom. It’s a good idea for you to have a second backup plan just in case something happens to theirs.

The Secret to Bulletproof Backup

The real secret to bulletproof backup is to do it regularly.

The best advice here is to use software that automatically backs up your drive at a scheduled time every day or every week, depending on your needs. Apple’s Time Machine® and third-party software products like Acronis True Image for Windows handle automated backups seamlessly and there many others available for purchase on the web. If you are considering a cloud service, find out which ones include automated backup schedules.

Beyond a single backup device you should also have a backup—for your backup. Think worst case scenario: a sprinkler pipe bursts flooding your studio computer and backup; a fire breaks out and everything becomes a wet, charbroiled mess after the fire department douses it with water; a disgruntled employee erases your main hard drive and destroys the backup. To protect yourself against these situations, you’ll need a secondary backup—one that is stored outside your facility.

A clear option for this is a cloud service. However, if you are concerned about security (after all, cloud services are connected to the internet at all times) or have industry compliance regulations that prevent cloud backup, rotating your secondary backup devices may be a good option.

If rotating your secondary backup device is the best choice, have multiple devices that you switch out from your network on a regular schedule (weekly is best). Keep only the device currently in use for backup at the facility and keep the others in a safe or at a separate location, such as another office. Once a week (or whatever schedule you have determined), rotate these devices so that a different one is being used for the daily secondary backup. In order to balance wear and tear, number the devices and rotate them in order.

Sometimes, Bad Things Just Happen

Sometimes, no matter how careful you are or how many precautions you put in place, bad things still happen. File corruption, data breach, flood, fire, multiple drive failure… We have many corporate clients who have experienced system failure at the worst possible moment between automated backups, causing essential data to be lost. Hopefully, this article will help you to avoid any data loss in both your business and personal life.

However, DriveSavers will be here if the worst should happen.

Additional Reading

Best Backup Solutions
Do Cloud Backup Services Hold Water?
Recovery Tips
Small Business Bonfire: Why Data Backup is Needed Now More Than Ever
TDIC: Data Backup: What’s Your Risk Tolerance?
Untwist, Inc.: Using Bare Internal Hard Drives for Data Archiving

The post Bulletproof Your Backups appeared first on DriveSavers.

from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2Wt6R6A

Digital Guardian: What CISOs Should Be Aware Of (But Typically Aren’t)

Originally published by Digital Guardian.
By Ellen Zhang

The life of a CISO is a busy one and it can be easy for priorities to get lost in the shuffle. We’ve polled a group of CISOs and other security professionals to find out what CISOs should be aware of but likely aren’t.

CISO AWARENESS: 21 SECURITY PROS & CISOS REVEAL WHAT CISOS SHOULD BE AWARE OF (BUT TYPICALLY AREN’T)

The role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is a complex one, requiring the ability to regularly interface not only with other security professionals, but executives spanning every facet of the organization. CISOs are typically responsible for evaluating and implementing the right security tools, within budget, while ensuring that those solutions are properly consolidated (eliminating redundancies and wasteful spend) and are adequate to meet the company’s evolving security needs. Additionally, as CISOs are often tasked with overseeing security awareness training, the ability to communicate with all levels of staff in non-technical jargon is key. Beyond implementing security tools and facilitating communication, though, CISOs oversee every facet of an organization’s security, mandating the ability to see the forest through the trees – acute awareness of both big picture and atomic-level risks, vulnerabilities, and security concerns is a must at all times. That’s where one of the biggest challenges lies for CISOs, and where the need for establishing an experienced, trusted, and reliable team becomes clear.

To gain some insight into common blind spots for CISOs and important considerations that CISOs should be aware of, but often aren’t, we reached out to a panel of CISOs and other security pros and asked them to answer this question:

“WHAT SHOULD CISOS BE AWARE OF THAT THEY’RE USUALLY NOT?”

Answer by Michael Hall

Michael Hall, DriveSavers Chief Information Security Officer, develops security protocols to handle critical data for corporations, government, and all DriveSavers customers. Hall has twenty-two years experience in data security and data recovery.

“If a storage device fails…”

Resulting in lost or corrupted digital data, few organizations have the internal resources to recover that data – especially in the case of physical damage or electromechanical failure. The device must be sent to a third-party data recovery vendor. Company-owned devices often hold security-sensitive electronically stored information (ESI), including critical intellectual property (IP), financial databases, accounting files, e-mail exchanges, customer records, PCI, PII and PHI. Most of the data recovery industry does not meet best practice standards to ensure data protection through cybersecurity; therefore, data recovery service providers must be classified as high-risk vendors. If an organization does not perform due diligence before engaging the services of a data recovery vendor, it runs the risk of a data breach that will result in major financial and reputational damage.

Read more: https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-cisos-should-be-aware-typically-arent

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from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2U8uMee

Enterprise Storage Forum: DriveSavers: Product Overview and Insight

Originally published by Enterprise Storage Forum.

By Drew Robb,

DriveSavers partners with many drive OEMs on data recovery. It has developed advanced techniques such as chip-off recoveries for flash devices and is skilled at recovering enterprise RAID arrays.

Bottom Line:

DriveSavers partners with many drive OEMs on data recovery. Making a name for itself in the market, it has developed advanced techniques such as chip-off recoveries for flash memory devices. In addition, it is skilled at recovering data from enterprise RAID arrays – a key concern for enterprise customers.

Its ISO 5 Class 100 cleanroom and security certifications, such as SSAE 18 SOC 2 Type II and adherence to HIPAA, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, make it an obvious shortlist candidate for enterprise users with mission critical data loss issues. It can recover data from Helium-based drives, which are very much a tool for high end customers. But it is expensive. Users should evaluate the price of the service against the value of the data.

Description:

Greater than 70% of the devices that come to DriveSavers have experienced a physical failure. The company can deal with HDD, SSD, flash and smart device failure. The bulk of the 15,000 devices that are sent to DriveSavers for data recovery each year (82%) come from referrals. The company stays current with the latest HDD and SDD features as each new generation brings a fresh set of challenges in terms of different firmware or greater data density on each platter. The company can also deal with Helium, which has more recently been introduced in hermetically-sealed HDD devices.

SSD failures are also becoming more common. It is now DriveSavers fastest growing segment. The latest models have more capacity per NAND and use more exotic solutions to increase that capacity, such as 3D NAND. The company can recover data from failed devices and devices that have been physically damaged.

DriveSavers has developed strategic technical alliances with device manufacturers such as Toshiba, Samsung, Seagate, Western Digital, Intel, Kingston, and others. This has enabled its engineers to develop proprietary techniques, tools and technologies that aid in data recovery.

The service begins immediately, day or night, any day of the week when using the Priority Service. Most corporate users choose the Standard Service of one to two business days and consumers generally choose a longer five to seven day Economy Service.

“The risk of losing archived data can be an emotional experience. DriveSavers recovered nearly a decade-worth of personal and professional data for me, for a fair price considering the value,” said one home office user.

What’s Recovered:

All physical (SSD, HDD, RAID, smartphone, tablet) and logical failures. Additionally, firmware failures; OS upgrade failures; failures from faulty soldering, faulty components and other manufacturer defects. Furthermore, it can handle damage caused by disasters such as drops, breaks, water, fire and power surges; human error such as accidental deletion or faulty DIY repairs.

How Implemented:

Almost all jobs are sent to DriveSavers California lab. HDDs are recovered in the company’s Certified ISO-5 Cleanroom to minimize damage that may be done by microscopic airborne particles. This is where procedures such as head swaps are performed.

SSDs, camera cards and many smartphone and tablet data recoveries are performed using chip-off and other technology that requires micro-soldering skills and inside knowledge supplied by device manufacturers.

Lab locations:

Lab in Novato, California offers worldwide service. It has done business in over 80 different countries.

Core Markets:

Consumers for computers, laptops, tablets and phones.

Businesses for HDD, SSD, RAID recovery.

Pricing:

Pricing depends on three factors: 1) the capacity of the device, 2) the complexity of the recovery and 3) the completeness of the recovery. The biggest factor in the cost is the completeness of the recovery. If the company cannot recover all the data, the cost will not be as high. It also has a “no data, no charge” policy: if the device is not recoverable or the specific data requested by the customer is not recoverable, then there is no charge.

	DriveSavers
Clean room	ISO 5 Class 100
Media	SSD, HDD, RAID, phone, tablet
Lab location	California
Core markets	Consumer and business, all media
Key Differentiator	Handles complex RAID projects

Read more: https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/products/drivesavers-data-recovery.html

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from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2HCxoLl

DriveSavers Offers California Flood Victims Free Data Recovery of Wet Computer Hard Drives

Industry leader offers free data recovery services to Russian River residents who lost data in the 2019 flood

(NOVATO, Calif. March 21, 2019) DriveSavers, the worldwide leader in data recovery, today announced it will provide free data recovery services to Russian River, California residents who have lost critical data as a result of the devastating flooding that occurred in February and March of 2019. The company is donating time, resources and years of expertise to provide up to $1,000,000 worth of data recoveries from water-damaged hard drives. Eligible devices include external hard drives, desktop computers and laptops.

“DriveSavers is known worldwide for recovering data from severely traumatized devices including those that have been dropped, burnt, crushed, and submerged in water,” said Scott Moyer, president of DriveSavers. “We offer our expertise to those who’ve lost irreplaceable data like photos and videos of loved ones, business files and financial records.”

The free recovery service is available now for victims of the February/March 2019 flooding. Because exposure to water and air cause corrosion on circuitry, customers must contact DriveSavers and ship devices no later than April 30, 2019. Limited to one device per business or household. Customers needing additional recoveries, and those with multi-drive devices such as RAID, NAS and SAN devices, are eligible for a 50% discount off regular service fees.

DriveSavers will accept as many water-damaged devices that it can up to $1,000,000 in services. However, it may further limit the number of free recoveries based on workload and availability of personnel.

Those who require data recovery should call DriveSavers immediately at 800.440.1904 or visit http://bit.ly/2Wg4xjc. Data recovery advisors are available by phone seven days a week.

This hard drive (HDD) saved from a flood was a successful data recovery.

About DriveSavers

With over 33 years of award-winning success, a technologically advanced Certified ISO Class 5 Cleanroom and proprietary tools, DriveSavers retrieves irreplaceable data from every type of storage device. The company has a proven track record of overcoming physical damage to devices caused by flooding, fire, mechanical damage, common drive failures, malware and more. Their broad range of customers includes home users, small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, government, healthcare organizations and creative professionals. The company partners with AT&T, Newegg and Fry’s Electronics. Satisfied customers include: Bank of America, Google, Lucasfilm, NASA and many more.

Press Contact: Michelle West
415-382-8000 ext.121
Send email by clicking here

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from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2TOFaZp

Chicago Tribune: Down to Business: If your phone or tablet takes a dive or a swim, these guys might be able to save it

The Chicago Tribune‘s local affiliate Naperville Sun wrote a great article about one of our partners, Ubreakifix. 

Erik Nigro manages Ubreakifix, located in downtown Naperville, where almost anything with a power button can be repaired. (Steve Metsch/Naperville Sun)

Business: Ubreakifix

Address: 118 S. Webster St., Naperville

Phone/website: 331-472-4292; http://bit.ly/2JrSTQW

Manager: Erik Nigro.

Years in business: Eight in Naperville.

What does your business do? “We repair pretty much anything with a power button, as the company likes to put it. I’d say we specialize in smart electronics, like phones, computers, laptops, game consoles and TVs,” Nigro, 28, said.

How’s business? “Good. We were the 15th store in the chain when we opened. We now have 468 locations, last I checked.”

What do you see most often? “The most common is a broken screen on a phone. Following that, a lot of people like to take swims with their phone. Or, more accurately, their phones like to take swims without the people. Pools. Toilets.”

And what if your phone does take a plunge? “Open air drying is one of the best things you can do. Don’t put your wet phone or electronics in rice. Rice is actually bad for them. There’s been multiple studies that show it harms your phone. It decreases the chance your phone is salvageable by 10 percent, which is not insignificant when you have a 50-50 chance.”

What’s the best part of doing business in Naperville? “The location, hands down, is really nice. It’s central to where most people are heading to get stuff done. There’s the Apple store nearby. We’re pretty good friends with the Verizon and AT&T locations. We get a lot of foot traffic, too.”

Any challenges? “There’s definitely some competition out there. I’d say we probably stand out because we are authorized repair centers for Samsung and Google. And, our distribution network for parts makes sure you can get the parts quickly.”

Ever wonder what the inside of a cell phone looks like? Ubreakifx in Naperville repairs these daily. (Steve Metsch/Naperville Sun)

Do you have a busy time of year? “Summer definitely. We get a lot of people coming in. Swimming is more common. I tell people to pat down their pockets before jumping into the water.”

Is there a slow time? “Winter. People don’t like to come out in the cold.”

What do you like best about this business? “For most people coming in, they’ve had a not-so-good experience. We take that and, ideally, turn it around for them.”

What’s the worst part? “We do have longer hours than most stores, but that’s not too bad. The biggest thing is when we can’t fix a device. That stinks for both parties. But if we can’t fix it, we try to help guide people into other options, whether that’s replacing the device or leading them to someone who can fix it. We work with a company called DriveSavers that specializes in data recovery. I’ve seen them pull data off a hard drive that has melted in a fire. They are phenomenal.”

What’s your business philosophy? “Our main concern is your happiness. We focus on the quality of our repairs, but, at the end of the day, our goal is you leaving the story happy.”

How has the business changed? “We’ve started partnering with some of these larger companies. For example, it wasn’t easy getting replacement parts for Samsung. Now, because we are partners, we can get pretty much every part for every Samsung phone out there.”

Do you like your job? “Yes. it’s fun. And we have a really good staff here.”

Any tips for phone care? “Having a phone in the bathroom when you take a shower is a really common way for us to see a liquid-damaged device eventually. Waterproof phones are designed for liquid water. Vaporized water can pass through the mesh as easily as air can.”

What’s misconceptions people have about your business? “A lot of people think we are a mom-and-pop shop and don’t necessarily know what we are doing. We have a 90-day warranty, so if you get your phone fixed here, take a trip to Florida, something goes wrong, you can walk into any Ubreakifix location and they’ll fix it for you.”

Do you have any favorite stories? “One day, someone brought in their kid’s electric scooter. We were able to get that up and running. It involved a little bit of soldering. Something had disconnected internally.

“Another time, we had one guy lose a phone in a snowbank for six months. He brought it and we were able to get it up and running. That was probably the most drastic one. A rubber gasket had kept most of the water out.”

Any future plans? “I’ll soon be managing our store in Montgomery. I’ve taken over primary ownership of that location. But I’ll be here for a while.”

What advice would you give someone starting a business? “I’d say if you’re starting solo, ask advice of people who’ve been running a business. Ask what to look out for. They can help guide you.”

Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/news/ct-nvs-down-to-business-st-0317-story.html

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from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2TVKTvG

TechRepublic: Top 5 data recovery tips

Originally published by Tom Merritt of TechRepublic

Losing data can be a scary experience. Tom Merritt offers five helpful tips for creating a data recovery plan.

Hard drives die—it happens all the time—but what can you do? You can try to recover that data. Or better yet: Plan ahead so you don’t have to fret. Start thinking about the inevitable now—don’t wait for the bad stuff to happen. Here are five data recovery tips.

1. Have backups: I know, I’m like your mom nagging you to clean your room, but if you have backups, data recovery just becomes so much less stressful. In the worst case, you lose only a small amount of data. Oh, and make sure you know where the backups are.
2. Have a plan: It’s better to know what you’re going to do before you have to do it. Create a recovery plan and regularly test the effectiveness of it. If the drive is already dead, it’s still a good idea to map out your strategy so you don’t get flustered and make the problem worse.
3. Try a dead drive in other machines: Sometimes mounting a drive externally through USB or even Firewire does the trick. It may seem silly, but I’ve seen it work more than once. And if it does work, make sure you get the data off it before you unmount it. I know it sounds obvious, but still…
4. Get data recovery software: Free software like Recuva and TestDisk, or paid programs like FileSalvage or SpinRite, might be exactly what you need.
5. Call in the pros: DriveSavers is expensive, but they are legendary at recovering data from burned, drowned, or otherwise devastated drives.

See? Don’t you feel better? It’s like insurance, but cheaper.

Read more: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/top-5-data-recovery-tips/

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from DriveSavers http://bit.ly/2Cj8Dja

Digital Forensics—Don’t Risk Destroying Digital Evidence

By John Ahearne, Forensic Analyst

When data is is needed for use as evidence, it is imperative that the only people to work on the device are verified experts in imaging a device for digital forensic purposes. Otherwise, the device—or the data itself—could be rendered inadmissible. Or worse—gone for good.

Digital Forensic Case Study: Poor Practices

Recently, a law enforcement agency asked DriveSavers to perform a forensic acquisition of a DVR that had been in the possession of a third party for the purposes of extracting digital evidence for a case. This involved performing a sector-by-sector duplication of the hard disk drive (HDD) in a forensically sound manner that protected and preserved the electronic evidence.

There was no mention of any damage, prior attempts at data extraction, or repair on the DVR or its hard drive other than that the data could not be read.

When the package arrived at DriveSavers, we discovered damage done to the DVR enclosure. We removed the drive from the DVR and took notes and pictures to record the damage done to the enclosure. The next steps involved bringing the HDD into our Certified ISO-5 Cleanroom for image extraction while maintaining chain of custody documentation.

The preliminary analysis revealed that the drive was a clicker—a sign of physical damage to the device.

Upon closer inspection, we noted that the drive had been previously opened before its arrival at DriveSavers. There were fingerprints and dust on the surface of the top platter and additional prints on the read/write head actuator.

Oily fingerprints and dust particles are larger than the distance between the read/write heads and the platters. Touching parts inside a hard drive, especially with bare hands, should be avoided at all costs to prevent further damage.

Oily fingerprints and dust particles are larger than the distance between the read/write heads and the platters, not to mention that the media on the platters can be easily damaged. Based on industry standards and best practices, a hard drive should be opened in a particle-free environment and engineers should wear cleanroom apparel that is lint free as well as non-static gloves. Since the media can be easily damaged, you would want to avoid any temptation of touching the platters or internal mechanics of the HDD. It would appear that best practices were not followed in this case.

The cause of the clicking turned out to be a hairline circular scratch. That scratch revolved around the entire platter as a result of the read/write head contacting the media. The pattern was circular because hard drive platters spin in a circular direction at a high speed while contact of the read/write head occurs. Think of a record player where the needle is stuck and grinds away as the record continues to spin in circular motion. Severe read/write head contact appears as rings on the platters.

The small line in-between the two hard drive platters, just below the read/write head assembly (often referred to as the “head stack” or “actuator”) is a scratch in the platter.

The hard drive from this DVR had suffered media damage in what is known as a “head crash.” A head crash is a mechanical malfunction that causes the read/write heads to make physical contact with the surface of the platters inside the drive, causing abrasive damage to the magnetic coating that stores the data, which looks like scratches or rings on the surface.

In this particular drive, all read/write heads are attached to a head stack assembly that operates as a single unit. In this model of hard drive, a scratch or head crash on one platter affects all other platters since all heads work in unison. As the actuator sweeps across the platters—or “seeks”—while trying to access drive information and data, the heads will continue to come into contact with any media damage, causing the entire head stack assembly to fail and thereby rendering the data on all other platters unreadable.

In this case, the drive inside the DVR had been in use for five years—not the shortest lifespan for an HDD but a long time all the same. It’s possible that the drive simply wore out from use. More likely, however, is that the damage occurred as a result of whatever caused the dent in the DVR and/or the fingerprints inside the drive. Without thorough records, proper documentation, chain of custody and best practices, it’s one person’s word against another.

It’s unclear whether or not a forensic image may have been attainable before damage or the attempted repair occurred. However, tampering with the drive outside of a Certified ISO-5 Cleanroom severely limited any possibility of data recovery. With no data, there is no evidence. This is why it is essential, when electronic evidence is at stake, only vetted, trusted experts in the field of digital forensics work on a device. Only experts in the field of digital forensics can provide results that are repeatable and defensible.

Without prior documentation, we can’t tell if the head crash occured before or after the drive was opened. It’s possible that the physical trauma resulting in the dent may have caused the head crash had the device been in operation at the time, but we have no idea if that dent happened before or after the head crash. We do know for sure that the data is unrecoverable and somebody has some explaining to do.

Due to the severity of the damage to the hard drive in this DVR, no data was recoverable. Therefore, no digital evidence was recoverable and, depending on who had possession of this unit before receiving it at DriveSavers, law enforcement will be asking some hard questions. After all, now they have no evidence and it’s possible that they no longer have a case.

Related Reading

Digital Forensics

Hard Drive Data Recovery: Microscopic Particles Can Cause Huge Damage

Digital Forensic Process—Preservation / Collection

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